It is oftentimes necessary to disply items such as food over an extended period. When such food must be maintained in a heated condition, it is often important that the heat be maintained at a relatively high temperature despite withdrawl of food by customers and replenishment of the food supply by service personnel.
Heretofore it has been necessary either to not have a door or to open a door or the like for customer withdrawl of food and this has let to problems in consistently maintaining the food at an elevated tempature. If not held at an elevated temperature, hot food tends to be less appetizing as the display time increases, and this, of course, can lead to customer complaints and dissatisfaction with the food which could lead to decreased sales.
While prior hot food containers have been suggested and/or utilized, such containers have not proved to be completely satisfactory for use where the food must be maaintained at an elevated temperature over long periods of time.
Among the known prior art, the patent to Levenback, (U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,832) is directed to a hot food counter, but there is no apparent suggestion of the use of a pair of openings at the front of an enclosure through which food can be withdrawn while still maintaining the enclosure temperature at a consistent elevated temperature by means of hot air circulated through the display area of the counter.
The patents to Ladge (U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,517), Hilgers (U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,599), Swift (U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,495), Werner (U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,541), Wilson (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,327,092 and 3,632,968), Johnson (U.S. Pat. No. 1,800,863), and Molitor (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,038,986 and 3,478,193) all teach devices that include hot food warmers and/or display counters. None of these patents, however, like the Levenback patent, appear to suggest the use of an enclosure for display of hot foods wherein the front wall of the enclosure has contoured openings and air circulated through the enclosure in such a manner that the temperature is consistently maintained at an elevated temperature.
Other prior art patents for refrigerating displayed food are also known, such as, for example, the patents to Kesling (U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,714), Fullington (U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,408), Monette (U.S. Pat. No. 985,620), Amend (U.S. Pat. No. 1,397,392), Hermann (U.S. Pat. No. 2,243,958), Waldo (U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,098), and Rydin (U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,068). None of these patents, however, appear to teach an enclosure having contoured openings through which food can be withdrawn and are not directed to hot foot service. In addition, while patents in other fields suggest the use of openings to an enclosure [see, for example, the patents to Mikelson (U.S. Pat. No. 2,039,490) and Grieb (U.S. Pat. No. 2,600,240)], there is no suggestion of use in a hot food counter to accomplish the desired end of maintaining an elevated temperature within the enclosure even though food is being withdrawn therefrom.